Inferno
by Mac Jessy
Summary: I wrote this Based loosely on Dante's Inferno awhile ago for school, but I think I might want to work on it a bit more... I like it, but it might need some work...especially the Authors Note.
1. Chapter 1

_**Authors Note:**_

_It is my personal belief that one should not judge another human being or try to decide what sort of punishment they should receive once they die. But for this work I have chosen three sins that I think are among the worst. I have made a hell and lead Dante through it. I have only chosen three because there is not enough time(or space) to do every single last one, and even if I tried, as I am human, I would most likely miss some. So for this story I would like you to consider the idea that this is only the part of hell I find of the most importance, and that the ending of this story is a lead into an opportunity for Dante to be lead through another persons (most likely a member of my English 12 class') part of Hell that __the__y find most important._


	2. Chapter 2

**Meeting**

The spring sun shines gently down on the newly budded trees which line the road. At first glance the street seems to be deserted, but upon closer inspection one finds a solitary figure leaning against one of the larger trees in it's shadow. He appears to be waiting for someone, for he periodically checks his watch, and shifts from foot to foot while watching the road. As time passes and the sun rises higher in the sky the shadow in which he is standing gradually begins to shrink. When the edge of the shadow reaches the tips of his polished shoes a figure appears on the road some ways off. Seeing the figure in the distance the man pushes himself away from the tree with his shoulders and begins to walk towards the approaching figure. When the figure becomes visible it turns out to be a teenaged girl with a plaid skirti and a white polo shirt. The man seeing this halts in his tracks and stares. When the girl is no more than four feet away she too stops walking. Tilting her head to one side she looks him up and down before speaking.

"You look different than I thought," she said with a trace of laughter in her voice.

"Being dead for so many years can do that to you," the man replies sarcasm dripping from every syllable. Raising one eyebrow the girl merely nods and then continues walking past the man, who turns and follows her. "Where are we going?" the man asks jogging to catch up to the girl who stops walking and turns to address him.

"You _are_ Dante, right?" the girl asks eyeing him.

"Of course, I am. Who else would I be?" Dante answers indignantly.

"I was told that in order for you to write your new book you need to be taken on a journey through the contemporary netherworlds. I am assigned the task of taking you through one of those infernos, and was told to meet you here, which I did. So if you would like to continue…" the girl recites patiently.

"That's right, and yes, we can continue, but where is this Hell? And…" Dante begins but is cut off by his guide;

" The Hell is further along this road, and I will explain everything about it once we arrive. Now, if you would just follow me we can proceed before I hand you over to your next guide. " When she finishes speaking the girl once again turns and leads Dante further down the road which gradually becomes more and more rugged. After an hour or so they reach a fork in the road, at which they once again stop. Dante looks at his guide expectantly and she regards him with dispassionate emotion.

"On which road would you go Dante?" she asks gesturing first to the left then to the right.

"I would take the right, for although the left is straight and clear, it is also dry and threatening. The right is serpentine and overgrown, but that means that things that live there are nourished. ii" Dante answers reaching out to touch one of the plants growing on his right.

"Your choice speaks volumes of the quality of your soul," states the girl pushing his hand away before his fingers even graze a leaf. "You have chosen the path of righteousness, but the path we must take is the path of iniquity. You must not venture up the path of righteousness before we go this path of iniquity, for if the residents of Hell smell the honor of Godiii they will destroy you as you stand in their midst. For they will know you do not belong among them." As she finishes speaking the girl begins moving towards the path on the left, looking over her shoulder to make sure Dante is following her. In deadly quiet they proceed down the path, the girl in the lead and Dante close on her heels. When they had been walking for several hours a large brick building surrounded by trees and flowers comes into view at the left side of the road. The girl turns toward the building and proceeds to walk up its long serpentine driveway. Upon seeing this Dante breaks the oppressive silence with an exclamation of surprise while hurrying along after his guide.

"This most assuredly does not look like the Hell I would have imagined in the future. There are flowers and birds here. This does not look like the type of place where people would be punished for all eternity." Dante sputters gesturing all around him wildly.

"Appearances can be deceiving. To an untrained eye, this might look like one of the most peaceful places on the earth, but deep within, it can be rotten to the core." The girl answers and pauses in the middle of the driveway. Thoughtfully she looks about until she sees a lone apple tree several feet away. She crosses to it and picks one of the applesiv on the lower branches and then beckons over Dante, "For example," the girl continues holding out the apple in the palm of her hand, "without touching it tell me about this apple."

"What?" replies Dante confusion washing over his face.

"Just do it," replies the girl.

"Well it is red, and shiny, it looks nice and juicy, and it is rather big." Dante replies sighing.

"Exactly, but without touching it, or experiencing it, you can't know what it's really like," answers the girl as she takes a pocket knife from the pocket of her skirt and slices the apple open to reveal the rotten and worm-filled inside. "You see?" she finishes throwing the destroyed apple as far away from them as she can and then starts up the driveway once again. Dante stands still pondering this logic and then follows the girl up the driveway, which despite looking like a long twisting path, takes them only a second to walk.v

There is complete silence as the girl approaches the front door of the building with Dante following curiously. When they reach the door the girl reaches out and pulls the door open gesturing for Dante to proceed ahead of her. The hallway they enter is narrow and dark, in the distance a single flickering light is seen through the frosted glass of a wooden door. Slowly the girl leads Dante towards the beckoning light and the first stage of Hell.

i **Plaid skirt**: This is a well-known part of a catholic/private school-girls uniform. Catholic/Privet schools have a reputation of teaching their students to be good people, and good analytical thinkers (or people who use reason). Having the guide in this outfit is trying to say that Dante is being led by a force of good and reason.

ii **I would take the right… are nourished**: Refers to the fact that with the love and grace of God life is possible and likely to flourish in a good way. Also refers to the right being the right hand of God (or the 'good side').

iii **Honor of God:** the plants are made by his own hands, and contain his pure grace.

iv **Apple**: most widely known as the forbidden fruit of Eden.

v **looking like a…only second to walk**: Evil, or more specifically the devil is known for illusions and tricks. The road is an example of one such illusion. The road to God is supposed to be hard to travel, winding, etc, and the path to Hell easier to travel and more straight. This winding road is an attempt by evil to trick lost souls into believing that they are heading to God, when in fact they are heading to the devil.


	3. Chapter 3

**Door One**

Upon reaching the door, behind which figures could be seen moving, the girl places her hand on the doorknob and turns to address Dante.

"I told you that this building was just one of the Hells. This is the Hell for the people who were slanderers, murderers, and those who used their 'power' for evil. This door marks the entrance to the first room of this Hell. This Hell is the Hell that holds people who were slanderers." When she finishes speaking the girl turns the doorknob and pushes the door open revealing a room that is bathed in bright red light. The only noise audible to the two who enter is the soft scuffing of feet as the occupants of the room scramble from one side of it to the other. After stepping completely into the room the girl firmly closes the door behind them. Glancing around Dante's face takes on a look of confusion. He turns toward the girl and says:

"How is this Hell? I see no punishment. All they do is walk around this room. There is no order, but yet, no punishment to create chaos." Dante finishes walking further into the room.

"Oh, but there is a punishment. One that is befitting the crime. In life these souls most often opened their mouths to speak negatively of another. They most often opened their ears to hear those negative words. So in this life…For all eternity they are doomed to have to bear the punishment they created in life." The girl finishes, following Dante as he circles the room watching the crazy-eyed inhabitants.

"And what might that punishment be?" Dante asks walking backwards so as to keep his face to his guide.

"The punishment is fitted to each one individually, each is to listen to the sound that most annoys him/her for all eternity, and they can not voice their frustration for their vocal chords have been rendered useless," The girl answers.

"I see," answers Dante watching the frantic faces of the people who pass by.

"Do not waste your pity on them, did you learn nothing from Virgil? They do not deserve pity…instead feel indifference. They committed the crime, and felt no repentance or sorrow so they must be punished." The girl finishes speaking and leads Dante to a door not far away from them. This door is black lead, and is fastened with several heavy padlocks and bolts. When they reach this door the girl pulls a ring of keys from her pocket and begins opening each lock slowly and silently. When she had opened every lock except one she pauses and turns to Dante.


	4. Chapter 4

**Door Two**

"This is the door to the second room of Hell. In this room are the murderers, both physical and physiological murderers." She finishes and turns back to the door. She unlocks the last bolt and pushes open the door. Cold rushes out at them. Dante steps in and she closes the door behind him. The light in this room is dull and there are flickering areas, almost as if there is a lighted candle in a draft. The dammed are split into two large groups the psychological murderers and the physical ones, an iron fence between the two. These two groups are then subdivided by the people themselves making small huddled groups around flickering lights. Dante walks closer to one of the groups and looks carefully at the flickering light. Jumping back in surprise he falls over another group of people and lands on his back near the wall. The girl, as she suppresses a grin, walks over to Dante and helps him to his feet.

"What are those things?" Dante asks pointing a trembling finger at one of the flickering objects.

"Those are holograms. They are three dimensional images of an object or person that can move around. They are part of these people's punishments," The girl answers walking over to one of the groups and gesturing for Dante to join her. Dante does so and watches with amazement as the image of a baby crawls around seemingly suspended in midair.

"How is watching a baby punishment?" Dante asks furrowing his forehead. "In the Hell Virgil lead me through the murderers were 'immersed in the boiling blood forever, each according to the degree of his guilt'i"

"Hell has progressed. Today some believe that Hell is worse if it is a state of mind. These sinners are forced to watch the lives of the people they murdered from beginning to end, constantly. Their eyelids are held open and they cannot turn away from the image. They must be constantly be reminded of their guilt. Psychological pain can be worse than physical. However if this punishment becomes ineffective on a resident they are punished in the pit." With the last sentence the girl gestures to the center of the floor where there is a large ravine. Dante crosses over to the pit and stares down.

"They are encased in fire, but yet they do not disintegrate." He said walking back to his guide.

"They must suffer the pain of being burned to death but they do not have the comfort of dying left to them," answers the girl beckoning Dante to follow her to the opposite side of the room where they find a door made of gold coins. There are no locks or doorknobs on the door to this room and Dante looks at his guide expectantly.

i Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno, Signet Classic, NYNY c.1982 P. 110


	5. Chapter 5

**Door Three**

"Within this room are the people who used their power for evil…" her voice trailing off the girl gently pushes the door inward and walks into the room which radiates with heat. "In their lives these people were powerful, but they did things with those powers that should not have been done, they hurt those who were less powerful then they were, for their own personal gain and had no qualms about their actions." She finishes as the door swings shut behind them with a soft bang.

" What are they doing? If they did such things why are they not as I saw them before? 'As they stole in their lives and worked by hidden ways, [why are] they [not] stolen from sight and hidden in the great flames which are their own guilty consciences?'i" Dante asks looking about the room in which the occupants were all crawling around on the floor.

"These men and women who in life were cruel masters now become the beaten slaves. They are cleaning up the mess of the world with their bare hands and their own tears." Answers the girl walking over to the crawling figures and pulls one up. "This is Cleopatra, one of the queens of Ancient Egypt. She employed her power as a queen, and as a woman to manipulate powerful men and their governments to serve her every whim." When she finishes speaking the girl releases Cleopatra who grovels at their feet until the girl guides Dante some ways off. "Over there is George W. Bush, to your left is Hitler, and to your right is Nero…"

She is cut off by Dante who replies with pity, "And they all are reduced to this?"

"Yes. But you should not feel pity for these or any other occupants of Hell. Come, we must keep moving." The girl replies leading Dante out of a plain wooden door on the opposite wall, several of Hell's occupants following at their heels groveling.

The hallway they enter into is in the middle of a flight of marble stairs. The girl leads Dante towards the downward flight without a word.

i Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno, Signet Classic, NYNY c.1982 P.220


	6. Chapter 6

**Parting**

"The upward flight, where does it go?" Dante asks as they descend slowly.

"To Purgatory. And consequently Heaven." Answers the girl looking back over her shoulder.

"And where are we going?" Dante asks running his hand along the wall as they walk.

"I am taking you to the next guide, for I have shown you all I can." The girl answers as they reach the bottom of the steps and an open door. "You are to walk through that doorway and you will meet your next guide." The girl said pointing into the dark room beyond.

"I don't understand, where are the homosexuals, and the heathens? Why are they not in Hell? Is it not the proper way to live, being Roman Catholic, and straight? " asks Dante facing his guide.

"There are no homosexuals or pagans in this Hell unless they commit sins severe enough to deserve the punishment of Hell without any repentance. Their sexual orientation, or their religion have nothing to do with their being in Hell." The girl answers staring Dante in the eyes.

"I do not agree," answers Dante "I believe that it affects their place in the afterlife greatly."

"Not anymore Dante. The world, along with Hell, has progressed since your visit with Virgil. The proper life now is just living as well as you can by your beliefs, no matter which god you accept." The girl states calmly. As Dante starts to speak the girl interrupts him and says: "Before you go let me give you one piece of advice you are going to need for your journeys through the rest of Hell. Do not waste pity upon the residents of the Hells you walk through, instead take a lesson from them and use it in your book to teach others how to avoid this everlasting doom, from which there is no escape." With those words the girl shoves Dante gently through the doorway and shuts the door behind him.


End file.
